I was fascinated by all the great generals, from Alexander the Great to George Patton. I hated war, but I loved the warrior spirit. - Phil Knight

But I was wrong. His parents had a little bit more, and they asked if I needed that, too. And I said yes. And they gave me their last three thousand dollars, draining their savings down to zero. How I wished I could put that check in my desk drawer and not cash it. But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. On my way out the door I stopped. I asked them: “Why are you doing this?” “Because,” Woodell’s mother said, “if you can’t trust the company your son is working for, then who can you trust?

There were many ways down Mount Fuji, according to my guidebook, but only one way up. Life lesson in that, I thought.

In the timeless, clarifying light of that moon, I begin to make a list.